Making Your Networks … Work! Creating Content That Matters

Andrew Sims

Communications Director | Birmingham Association of REALTORS®

What are your marketing commandments for 2015?

All media is social.

All media is social. We are creating “evangelists.”

Where does all this happen?

©"LUMA"Partners"LLC"2014"

Tag Mgmt

Chat Real-time Message/Offers

MARKETING*TECHNOLOGY*LUMAscape * * *"

Mobile Web

Website Creation & Mgmt

Data Warehouses

Sales/ Mktg BI

AB/MV Testing

Visualization

SEO Platforms / Tools

Translation

Social Promotion Platforms

Social Publishing Platforms

Social Marketing Management

DAM Feedback / Surveys

Marketing Data

DB Mktg

Social Login/Sharing

Mktg Automation

Social Content & Forums

Online Video Players

Players

(SMB)

E-Commerce Platform/Storefront (Enterprise) Social Referral E-Commerce Technology

Merchandising

Payments M-Commerce

Website

Sales Automation

WCM Community

Website Personalization & Optimization Landing Pages

B2B Personalization

Email Service Providers

Recommendation

Loyalty

DMPs

Site Perf/Opt

Web Analytics

Denotes acquired company Denotes shuttered company

Marketing Modeling Sales & Marketing

Integrated Mktg Mgmt Email Optimization

Predictive Marketing Platforms

Inbound Marketing is driven by 4 principals

Attract \\ Convert \\ Close \\ Delight (ROI)

What is a “social strategy”? You mean we can’t just DO social media?

What does Social Media do? Social Media levels the playing field for ALL businesses.

Online. Everyone has a voice.

Social Content Helps Us … > cultivate relationships

> increase brand trust and credibility

> A/B test your product, your message, your customers, your platform

> build your audience and your reach

> grow your community

> convert the right customers

When searching for businesses and services 65% said they learned through website 55% said they learned through social media 47% said e-newsletters 18% said print 17% said face to face

When asked about content ... 74% - cool events 69% - statistics 65% - articles, information, news, photos 61% - volunteer opportunities 47% - video (motivational or informational)

We work off of objectives. Sorting out vanity, from quality business marketing

Objectives have a measurable metric. metric (n) - A system or standard of measurement.

Find those KPI’s A performance indicator or key performance indicator

(KPI) is a type of performance measurement.

Find those KPI’s GOAL 1 — Boost sales 10% in the next quarter. KPIs include daily sales, conversion rate, site traffic.

GOAL 2 — Increase conversion rate 2% in the next year. KPIs include conversion rate, shopping cart

abandonment rate, associated shipping rate trends, competitive price trends.

GOAL 3 — Grow site traffic 20 % in the next year. KPIs include site traffic, traffic sources,

promotional click-through rates, social shares, bounce rates.

GOAL 4 — Reduce customer service calls by half in the next 6 months. KPIs include service call

classification, identify of page visited immediately before the call, event that lead to the call.

This is not always how we think ... as businesses, nonprofits, churches, etc.

We must change this ...

“Over time, all marketing strategies result in Crappy clickthrough rates.”

The Law of Crappy Clickthroughs

Andrew’s Commandment Every brand should build a strategy and planned approach

to measuring online success in social and web engagement.

Communications Director Justin Dean said that collectively, Mars Hill's social media channels are gaining about >>> 6,000 new followers per week.

"Most of that is gained through people sharing our content with their friends, which puts us in front of new people who then follow us" --- Justin Dean

Millie Ray’s Rolls > new

> trying to find their voice and what works

> what do people care about?

> where we made mistakes

> data fixes mistakes

Metrics are provable!

This data ....

What are we doing wrong? > No central platform for communications.

> “Auto post hell”

> No numbers = Bad

> Idea that Marketing = Good Graphic Design

What should we be measuring? > share of voice - where are our customers? what do they care about?

> depth of interactions - new members, affiliate networks, drop offs

> commitment to return - like “product”, love culture, love us.

> suggestions for engagement - feedback, reviews, evangelism

Baby’s First Steps … > We are a startup. No discussion.

> Start validating channels. Don’t stop.

> Find the competition.

> Just start peddling the bike. You WILL fail.

And eventually … > Active and responsive blog

> Active website that is actually working FOR us

> Our competition finds us

> Measure, measure, measure (Remember those KPIs?)

What’s Happening in 2015 5,035 global marketing professionals asked about their budgets

70% plan to boost spending on social media advertising this year

Same percentage plan to spend more on social media marketing overall

and 67% will spend more on social engagement.

What’s Happening in 2015 Facebook reports 750 million active users to date

50% of those users are on mobile phones

Social Engagement is utilizing multiple social media channels for

conversations with customers.

What’s Happening in 2015 Don’t. Forget. About. Email

Email marketing was found to continue its dominance in digital marketing. Nearly three in four per cent of global marketers believe email is core to their business, with 92% citing a clear ROI.

What’s Happening in 2015 Different Channel. Different Voice. Different Strategy.

So many networks means that you have to divide and conquer. You will

have users only on Twitter, or users only on Facebook or Pinterest. Some

will be both places, but you’ll need strategy for each.

But connect them.

Creating a Social Strategy 101 1. Start With a Blogging Schedule

2. Find Your Target Audience, and What You Want From Them (KPIs)

3. Outline Your Key Messages (What They Want)

4. Brainstorm Your Calendar (make it simple)

5. Set Your Schedule (1 blog a week, 2 FB posts a day, 4 Tweets a day)

6. Every startup becomes a KEEP UP

Creating a Social Strategy 101 Find how your customers consume data and information

A restaurant is different than a REALTOR Association and a sports team

Make the decision making process central. Know you’re creating ROI.

Don’t be afraid to test and fail.

Launch quick. Post fast. Pivot faster.

Always find thought leaders ...

Make the “Purple Cow”.

Questions?

Andrew Sims @ap_sims on the Tweets andrew@birminghamrealtors.com